Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi (Al-Jazirah, 25 April)
A man identifying himself as Al-Qaeda's Iraq frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi appeared in an Internet video on Tuesday in what would be the first public appearance of one world's most wanted militants in at least three years."By God, America will be defeated in Iraq," said the man identified as Zarqawi.
The male, sporting a beard, is shown meeting with fighters briefing him on events in the western rebel town of Ramadi.
There had previously been only audiotapes of Zarqawi, while the US military obtained photos of Zarqawi in February 2005 when the rebel purportedly fled a car by a US checkpoint outside Ramadi.
"Your brethren in the information committee of the Mujahedeen's Consultative Council are happy to present the first video of the emir of the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Land of Two Rivers, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," footage on the website said.
The man also announced the formation of an umbrella group for anti-US fighters.
The Jordanian-born Zarqawi is blamed for numerous deadly attacks in Iraq and the kidnapping and beheading of hostages and has a 25 million dollar US bounty on his head.
Translation
Centcom: On 25 April, The Global News Network posted a statement issued by The Mujahidin Shura Council in Iraq [Majlis Shura al-Mujahidin fi al-Iraq] announcing a new message from Abu-Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, leader of the Al-Qa'ida Organization in the Land of the Two Rivers (I.E. Iraq), and provided links to a 34-minute 4-second video statement titled, "This is a Declaration to the People."
In it, al-Zarqawi rages against the democratically-elected Iraqi government, encouraging Iraqis and foreign fighters to wage war within the country. A translation of the video follows:
The video begins with a written quote, "Then fight, O Muhammad, peace be upon him, in the Cause of Allah, you are not held responsible except for yourself, and incite the believers [to fight along with you]; it may be that Allah will restrain the evil might of the disbelievers. And Allah is stronger in might and stronger in punishing" [Koranic verse, Sura 4:84].
Abu-Mus'ab al-Zarqawi appears, saying, "Where are the lions of Al-Anbar? Where are the lions of Salah-al-Din? Where are the men of Baghdad? Where are the knights of Nineva, and the heroes of Diyala? Where are the brave men of Kurdistan? Where are you lions of monotheism?"
After a brief edit, Al-Zarqawi continues, "Beware, and beware of those who find their ways into those collaborating agencies. By God, we have nothing for them but the decisive sword. Between us there are but lingering time and events, from which horrors young boys' hairs would turn grey."
A religious song is played, after which al-Zarqawi says, "And make ready against them all you can of power, including steeds of war to threaten the enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others besides whom, you may not know but whom Allah does know. And whatever you shall spend in the cause of Allah shall be repaid unto you, and you shall not be treated unjustly. [Koranic verse]"
The video cycles through various highlights of later sections of the video. A picture of Osama Bin Laden appears, while portions of an audio message from Bin Laden which aired July 2004 is played in the background. The video cuts to Abu-Mus'ab al-Zarqawi seated, addressing the camera, with a gun beside him propped up against the wall.
He says, "All praise be to God, Who honored Islam with His victory, humiliated polytheism with His power, controlled [the] world's events with His will, lured the polytheists with His schemes, and with His justice dictated power to circulate among nations. May God's peace and prayers be upon the One, with whose sword God has elevated the banner of Islam.
“My dear nation! I am talking to you, free of any wrong, hoping to find in you listening ears and open minds. Rest assured that the leader does not lie to his people. When the Crusader enemy invaded Iraq, the intentions were to control the Islamic nation, and enable the Zionist entity to prevail from the Nile to the Euphrates. But God enabled your mujahidin children to stand facing the fiercest Crusader campaign creeping on the land of Islam. They stood facing that invasion for a period of three years or a bit longer, and gave in that period the most valuable and most precious, sacrificing their souls and their possessions. They spent their life savings, dedicated their time, sacrificed their souls and honor, and shouldered the fiercest attacks militarily, economically, and on the media front for nothing but to defend this nation, its religion, its men and women, and their honor. Therefore, God inflicted the enemy's gathering and dispersed their unity, and their defeat became apparent to everyone who can see with the naked eye and a clear mind.
“Here are your soldiers; by the grace and bounty of the Exalted Almighty they carry out raid after raid, attack after attack, and hold the initiative in the battle field. Without the escalating and collaborated media blackout, you would have seen wonders. By God, the heroic epics bring about their dancing breeze, and therefore, the nation of Islam should be thankful and grateful to God for His great bounties, for allowing a group of the nation's children to defend its territory and save its honor. Without their standing, Iraq would have fallen prey to malicious Crusaders and treacherous rejectionists [a derogatory term for Shi'ites], and the women of the Sunni people would have become prisoners, serving as mistresses in the arms of the malicious Crusaders and rejectionists. The memories of Abu-Ghurayb prison and the prisons of the rejectionist Iraqi interior [ministry] are not forgotten.
“My dear nation! We, in Iraq, are in a stone's throw from the Masra [destination of Muhammad’s nightly journey from Mecca] of God's Prophet, prayers and peace be upon him. While we are fighting in Iraq, our eyes are always on Bayt al-Maqdis [Jerusalem], which will not be regained without a guiding Koran and a supporting sword. 'But enough is thy Lord to guide and to help' [Koranic verse, excerpted from Sura 25:31]. Experience, days, trials and misadventures have proven that you [I.E. Jerusalem] have nobody after God other than your sons the mujahidin. They are your protecting fortress, your strong armor, and your beating heart. They become happy when you are happy, they cry when you are sad, they stay up all night for you, and they are earnestly concerned about you. You are their first and last concern.
“O, God! Remove disgrace and injustice from my nation! O, God! Restore back my nation's power and glory!
“To the American administration, and at its head the Crusader Bush, and those who surround him from the Jews, the Crusaders, the rejectionists, the apostates and others, we say you will not lead a life of ease in the land of Islam. By God, you will not enjoy your life for as long we still have a beating vein and a blinking eye.
“Our Amir and leader, Shaykh Osama, may God protect him, offered you a long lasting truce that is good for you and those surrounding you, but your arrogance and haughtiness prevented you from accepting the offer. By the grace of God, here you are now, all confused, helpless and broken, jumping out of fear from west to east as if you were possessed by Satan until you started lying to and deceiving your people and supporters. The more the mujahidin intensify their attacks, the more you have to lie claiming that things are under control. Then everyone near and far realizes the falsehood of your claims. You became like a person who tries to cure himself from drinking alcohol by drinking more alcohol.
“Not a single time were you truthful to yourself or your people; even though truthfulness, which you lack, is found in some of your forefathers. Why do not you tell the truth about your soldiers and that their fighting will is rather weak, so that your people will know the truth about this war? Why do not you tell them that your soldiers are continuously committing suicide? Why do not you tell them that your soldiers cannot sleep without taking drugs and hallucination pills and that those pills make them lose their mind to allow your evangelical-Zionist war generals to drag them into the slaughter house? Why do not you tell them about the mass desertion and revolt [which] is growing among the ranks of your soldiers?
“O, you arrogant liar! Know that we will sacrifice our blood and bodies to put an end to your dreams, and what is coming is even worse, by God's help. This rotten play of democracy that you brought with you to the Land of the Two Rivers after you have seduced people by the claims of freedom, happiness and financial and spiritual easiness is gone with the wing and left forever, God willing.
“And here you are trying to use all your means and pretexts to gather all your apostate tails, flock, and other partners to form together with them a mutilated government that may rescue you from your acute and embarrassing disaster. But we believe that any government that is formed in Iraq now -- regardless of who its members are, whether they are from the malicious rejectionists, the secularist Kurdish Zionists, or the collaborators that are falsely considered Sunnis -- is a government that is an agent, collaborating and allied with the Crusaders. Such a government would become a poisoned dagger in the heart of the Islamic nation.
“America has realized that its tanks, airplanes, huge armies, and its despicable rejectionist agent army will not be able, God willing, to win the battle with the mujahidin. Therefore, America began to rely on a cunning plan seeking through it to outflank jihad and the mujahidin by directing its agents, who are considered Sunnis, to become the rope to be tied around the necks of the Sunni people to rescue the Americans from the quagmire of death and failure in Iraq. Those are the same Sunnis who have taken Islamic symbols as their veil with which to cover their disgraceful acts, and began to appeal to their masters to form both the army and the police force and to throw to the Muslims, as the [Arabic] saying goes, ‘and they put the poison in the honey.’
“Meanwhile, they forgot or chose to forget that all through modern history, every occupier of a country or colonial power finds those natives who are willing to represent them in order to make it possible for the occupier to secure its stay, to steal the resources of the land and the people, and to safeguard its cunning goals and interests. The Almighty God said, 'And he amongst you that turns to them is of them,' [Koranic verse, excerpted from Sura 5:51] in this and the afterlife. And God also said, 'Truly Pharaoh elated himself in the land and broke up its people into sections, depressing a small group among them: their sons he slew, but he kept alive their females, for he was indeed a maker of mischief' [Koranic verse, Sura 28:4].
“We, therefore, repeat our call and warning to all who seek to establish and to deploy the police and army created to execute the occupiers' plans and to implement a law other than that of God, Lord of the universe. Beware of those who will join such agent forces. By God, they have nothing from us but the sharp sword, and between us and them time and events whose horrors will turn young boys' hair gray. The almighty God said, 'Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who reject faith fight in the cause of evil, so fight ye against the friends of Satan. Feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan' [Koranic verse, Sura 4:76].
“And with the great defeat of the enemy and his futile methods, he is trying to draw into the play of the so-called parliament two kinds of people to reap the fruit of mujahidin, who are seeking to make the word of God supreme. The first kind of them is those who are trying to attach themselves to the mujahidin, having not lived the burdens of jihad and its atmosphere during the occupation of Iraq. The second are those who had participated early on in the fight against the Crusaders. But things are judged by how they end.
“Anyone that follows the political process in Iraq knows that most of those with seats in the Parliament are Shias, secularists among the Kurds and Sunnis, in addition to those who follow a flawed methodology and creed. All of this leads us to believe that the majority in the parliament is always going to be controlled by the transgressors against God. God, praise be to Him, said, 'Beware of them lest they turn you far away from that which Allah has sent down to you.' [Koranic verse, excerpted from Sura 5:49] and He said, Exalted be He, 'Have you seen those who claim that they believe in that which has been sent down to you, and that which was sent down before you, and they wish to go for judgment to the Taghut [false judges] while they have been ordered to reject them. But Satan wishes to lead them far astray' [Koranic verse, Sura 4:60].
“As for you true and enduring mujahidin, may God accept your righteous deeds and may He bless your jihad and struggle. You stopped the Crusaders and their assault on the nation and crushed them and made their life difficult. Continue your jihad and increase your attacks, and double your blows, for by God you are embarked on an Islamic conquest, and these by God are the last moments before the Cross worshipers declare their defeat in the Land of the Two Rivers. The lack of will to fight is widely spread among the armies of the Crusaders. Renew your vows and intentions, and purify your hearts and attack your enemy as one man. Your enemy is now exposed, due to the grace of God, and has lost his will and become weak and broken; so don't give him a chance to recuperate. Continue the stabs, one after another.
“Oh Steeds of God, mount. Oh bearers of the banner, rise up. Where are the lions of Al-Anbar? Where are the lions of Salah-al-Din? Where are the men of Baghdad? Where are the knights of Ninawa, and the heroes of Diyala? Where are the brave men of Kurdistan? Where are you lions of monotheism? Oh grandchildren of Khalid, Al-Muthana, Sa'd, and Al-Miqdad, and Salah-al-Din! Where are the muhajirin [foreign fighters]? Where are the Ansar [Iraqis]? They are the people mentioned in Al-Tawbah [The ninth Sura of the Koran] and Al-Anfal [eighth Sura], and the people mentioned in the verses of Al-Fatah [forty eighth Sura] and Al-Qital [forty seventh Sura].
“Oh what a loss it is for the nation! Who is going to comfort the bereaved mothers, who going to answer the call of the free woman in the prisons of the Crusaders, who is going to free the chaste from the detentions of the hateful rejectionists? Oh God, we seek only the life of the hereafter. Oh God, give the mujahidin, both the Ansar and the muhajirin, victory. Beware of the bandits who are conspiring with the Crusaders to contain your jihad. Beware not to put down your arms for your destiny would then be regret, humiliation, and disgrace in this world and in the hereafter. You prayed to God, day and night, to facilitate your way to jihad in the sake of God in Afghanistan and Chechnya and elsewhere, and now God Almighty chose you and brought jihad to your lands, thus opening the gates of heaven for your blessing. Do not, oh mujahidin, shut these gates with your sins. 'And be not like her who undoes the thread which she has spun after it has become strong' [Koranic verse, excerpted from Sura 16:92]. If jihad was ever to leave your land, God will afflict you with disgrace and send you the worst kind of people to afflict you with horrible torment, and slaughter your sons and violate your women, and take this blessing of jihad away from you. 'And if you turn away, He will exchange you for some other people, and they will not be your likes' [Koranic verse, excerpted from Sura 47:38].
“Finally, we bring the good news to the nation with the establishment of the Mujahidin Shura Council which will be, with God's might, the foundation of an Islamic country where the word of God will be the highest. Praise be to God as efforts are increasing and hands are uniting and shaking on God's obedience and his Messenger and the jihad of God. This Council will be, God willing, an umbrella for every true mujahid, and I have the honor of being a member of this blessed Council with its wise leadership, in addition to being the Amir of Al-Qa'ida Organization in the Land of the Two Rivers, servant of the Jihad and the mujahidin, proud of Almighty God, your brother Abu-Mus'ab al-Zarqawi. This is Friday, 23 Rabi al-Awwal 1427, corresponding to 21 Nissan [I.E. April] 2006. Praise be to God, Lord of all creation."
The video cuts to a new scene of al-Zarqawi walking with masked bodyguards, greeting and shaking hands with a large group of insurgents. After about a minute, the scene changes to a room with five masked men sitting on the floor. The one sitting next to Al-Zarqawi updates him on the latest developments:
"In the name of God, praise be to God. Peace and many prayers be upon our prophet Muhammad and upon his family and companions. We salute our noble Shaykh in the land of Al-Anbar, the land of jihad, and ask Almighty God to make it a permanent thorn in throat of the [non-Muslims].
“We inform you, our noble Shaykh, about what happened recently in Al-Ramadi, a special and huge operation where God granted victory to the brothers of the Mujahidin Shura Council. They killed all the infidels they could kill, and were able to control the [center] of the city, including the Administration and Directorates, and handed the infidels a great defeat. With God's blessings, they were able to kill a large number of the soldiers as they tightened control of the city for four days and prevented the Americans from even reaching their dead. Praise be to God. This operation was a clear and direct answer to the visits of the infidel ambassadors Condoleezza Rice [U.S. Secretary of State] and Jack Straw [British Foreign Secretary].
“In general, the spirits of our troops in Al-Anbar and other areas are good and moral is increasing, in contrast to the infidel armies and their soldiers, who are suffering lower moral and decreasing spirits as they go from one defeat to another. We ask God Almighty to accelerate their defeat.
“In regards to the field of technology and development, the mujahidin in Al-Anbar Governorate produced two rockets. The first one is called 'Qa'idah 1' with a range of 40 kilometers. It carries an explosive head that weighs 50 kilograms. Here is a picture of it, our Shaykh."
The masked terrorist pointed at a laptop computer screen to show a picture of a man standing next to an estimated 6-foot-long rocket in the middle of the desert. The video cuts to the same scene on the laptop screen, showing a demonstration of the rocket. The rocket's launch was repeated in slow motion while a recital of a Koranic verse, an excerpt from Sura 8:60, was played in the background: "Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know."
The masked man continued, "The other rocket is called 'Quds 1' and carries a hollow charge that can penetrate shields. God willing, these rockets will be used in the next phase."
Al-Zarqawi is then shown a demonstration of a smaller, horizontally-mounted rocket on the laptop in front of him. The video again cuts to the picture shown on the laptop, a demonstration of the "Quds 1" rocket.
The next scene showed one of the masked men with a pointer in his hand signaling on what looked like a map spread out on the floor, in front of Al-Zarqawi. Al-Zarqawi used a marker to circle a few spots on the map. This portion of the video had no dialogue; religious chants were played in the background. Religious music continued while Al-Zarqawi conferred with the group around him. An excerpt from Al-Zawahiri's latest audiotape was played in the background, in which he said, "This is the most crucial ground of jihad in this age. The nation should support the heroic mujahidin of Iraq, who are fighting in the frontline to defend Islam's glory and dignity."
During the discussion, Al-Zarqawi smiled and spoke with the men around him. The final scene showed him firing a machine gun at an unidentified target in the desert. Afterward, he faced the camera and said, "By the will of the Exalted, Almighty God, America will be defeated in Iraq and they will exit the Land of the Two Rivers defeated, humiliated, sorrowful, and feeling scorned."
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